Day of Praise

Sat, 11/05/16, "Day of Praise"

"The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins." - Isaiah 51:3

"The Lord...will look with compassion on all her ruins."

What does that mean? What does it mean that the "The Lord will look with compassion on all her ruins."

We want to run straight to the encouragement that God will have compassion on anyone whose life is totally or partially or even a wee bit in ruins. And that's great because God certainly wants to rebuild us all personally, along with the relationships and matters in our lives.

However, God's word teaches us that it doesn't do a whole lot of good for God to rebuild our lives if, like a two year old, we simply just tear it down again. What's the old saying? Only a fool keeps doing the same thing and expects a different result!

So what does God want us to hear about ruins in our lives, in addition to his compassion?

In Proverbs 24, there are a number of "building, ruins, rebuilding" sayings, such as "Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house."

Translation - Keep your priorities straight.

If we continue to ignore God and His Word by giving more time and importance to other things, then we will continue to knock down whatever God builds or rebuilds.

The priority of God's word makes it possible to see how things came to ruin to begin with and how God will compassionately lead the rebuilding.

"The Lord will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins." - Isaiah 51:3

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson